The success of this year's Mardi Gras buoys spirits in the city's tourism industry, with many seeing a return to the heady days before Katrina

Thursday, February 22, 2007By John PopeStaff writer

Based on such criteria as hotel occupancy and parade crowds, tourism officials Wednesday declared this year's Carnival not only a resounding success but also a harbinger of tourism's resurgence in the city that Hurricane Katrina ravaged.

"This felt like a Mardi Gras pre-Katrina," said Kelly Schulz, a spokeswoman for the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau. "This sends a message that New Orleans is open for business. We're ready for visitors. For so many people around the world who have heard the worst about New Orleans, Mardi Gras 2007 sends the message that the things people love in the city are alive and well."

The hotel occupancy rate was as high as 95 percent during the weekend before Fat Tuesday, according to the Greater New Orleans Hotel and Lodging Association, with some hotels booking every room.

Using hotel data, as well as the number of people on New Orleans-bound flights and police estimates of parade crowds, the number of Mardi Gras visitors ranged between 700,000 and 800,000 , Schulz said.

"We know for a fact that there were so many more tourists who came back for our signature festival," said Sandy Shilstone, president and chief executive officer of the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corp.

"I just noticed that the emotions were very high this year," she said. "So much of the excitement and joy was palpable. . . . In so many ways, it felt like the Mardi Gras that we're accustomed to."

There will be a ripple effect, Schulz said, "because the people who were here are going to be able to go back to their friends and colleagues and say, 'We had a great time.' "

The money that goes into the economy will have long-term benefits, Shilstone said, because it will help small-business owners and people such as float builders and costumers, for whom Carnival is a year-round occupation.

No trash tally

Trash tonnage, a longtime indicator of Carnival activity, isn't used anymore because Mayor Ray Nagin prefers to rely on statements from people in the hospitality industry for such information, said Lesley Eugene, a Nagin spokeswoman.

A City Hall news conference on Carnival is expected later this week, possibly on Friday, she said.

This year's Carnival was not an unconditional success because New Orleans police reported three murders from Friday through Tuesday.

The effect of such crimes on tourism is impossible to predict, said Bill Langkopp, the hotel association's executive vice president.

But, he said, "there's no question that anytime we have that kind of criminal activity garnering national exposure, it has a negative effect."

No surge in arrests

However, there was little difference this season in arrests on such charges as public drunkenness and urinating in public, said Sgt. Joe Narcisse, a New Orleans Police Department spokesman.

On Tuesday, Police Superintendent Warren Riley said there had been 524 arrests on such charges, compared with 479 on Mardi Gras last year.

In reporting hotel occupancy, tourism industry representatives were quick to point out that New Orleans not only has more rooms available than it did last year but also has more of those rooms available to tourists.

Last year, there were 20,000 hotel rooms, but about 7,000 were filled with insurance representatives, recovery workers and, at the New Orleans Hilton, Dillard University students who lived and attended classes there, Shilstone said.

This year, those people are gone, and the 30,000 rooms were available for tourists, she said.

Park and stay

When people drove into New Orleans, they tended to stay put, said John Incandela, regional manager for Standard Parking, which has about 15,000 spaces in the city, as well as parking meters.

"In the past years, we had a lot of turnover," he said. "This year, more cars were sitting, which makes me believe that people stayed in town longer, either in hotels, or they rode with each other."

In popular areas, such as the French Quarter and the Central Business District, "we were full 100 percent of the time," Incandela said, "but there wasn't a lot of turnover. They just sat."

The demand for parking space was so great that people were willing to park at the Standard Parking lot at Union Passenger Terminal and hike about a mile to the Quarter, he said.

In Jefferson Parish, where Carnival has become a growth industry, there was a spurt not only in parade attendance on both sides of the Mississippi River but also in the demand to join krewes.

"Let's face it. Last year, people didn't want to talk Mardi Gras," said Diane Barilleaux, captain of the Krewe of Excalibur, which rolls on Veterans Memorial Boulevard. "Now they're saying 'Hey, I want a float.' "

Because of the massive nature of Carnival, planning for the next year's celebration must start within hours after the last trinkets have been tossed.

People who will be working on next year's festivities will need all the time they can get because Fat Tuesday 2008 will occur unusually early, on Feb. 5. And people may be forced to decide whether to go outside to watch the Bacchus parade or stay indoors to watch Super Bowl XLII.